Narrative paradox in Hamoudi Alkanani's very short stories

Abstract

        Paradox is an important technique in the very short story. By capturing the images and situations that abound in his daily reality and turning them over in a style full of deep meanings and connotations, the writer is able to provoke the reader and invite him to read the apparent meaning of the text against a hidden meaning, which is often the opposite meaning.

       Hamoudi Al-Kanani employs the paradox in his very short stories as a skilled and clever linguistic game between two parties; the maker of the paradox and its recipient, in a way that provokes and invites to reject the apparent literal meaning, in favour of attracting the recipient towards the hidden implicit meaning because it succeeds in depicting the difference between two opposite models of the situations that we live on the ground of reality, by focusing on a sharp linguistic economy, and language ranging between spontaneity and symbolism, the storyteller manages to formulate paradoxes that reveal the fragility of reality and invite the reader to reconsider social and political axioms.

        Accordingly, this research aims to study the narrative paradox in Hamoudi al-Kanani's very short stories, especially in his two collections (Medea al-Hakaya) and (The Last End ... and Oli), through an analytical narrative study of his very short stories.